Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers betting tips and predictions for Wednesday’s NBA Game on ESPN. Lebron James and his Lakers are still looking to record their first win of the young season as they hit the road and take on the Denver Nuggets. Read on for all our free predictions and betting tips.
Denver Nuggets
Nikola Jokic was one of the main reasons why the Denver Nuggets fell in their last game against Portland as the 2-time MVP posted an unusual stat line of just 9 points, 9 rebounds and 9 assists in 27 minutes played. To make things even more puzzling, Jokic took just 4 shots from the field which is very uncharacteristic from an MVP player. The good news is he has an opportunity to make amends tonight as his team takes on the struggling Lakers.
Denver is a 6-point favorite heading into tonight’s game, a number that shouldn’t be too hard to cover judging by the first few games of the season from both teams. The Nuggets are an impressive 8-3 SU in their last 11 games played at home on a Wednesday. They do have a losing record in their last 10 meetings with the Lakers at 4-6 SU, but I think they get back to. 500 after tonight’s game. A couple of injuries could slow them down though as Jeff Green and Michael Porter Jr. are both questionable, but their injuries are not serious so we could see them suit up here.
Los Angeles Lakers
Speaking of injuries, the Los Angeles Lakers could be without Russell Westbrook in tonight’s game as he has a hamstring strain. That might not be a bad idea for LA as most analysts are pointing to him as one of the main reasons they are 0-3 to start the season. The Lakers are posting historically bad shooting numbers ranking dead last in field goal percentage, three point percentage and offensive rating.
They too are coming off a home loss against Portland on Sunday, in a game in which they led by 7-points with under 2 minutes to go they ended up losing 106-104. LeBron James posted 31 points, 8 rebounds and 8 assists, but his numbers aren’t translating into wins right now and that’s a big problem for this team. Only 2 other teams are yet to win a game this season, I have to admit I can’t see that happening on the road as the Lakers are just 1-6 SU in their last 7 games.
This should be all Denver. The Nuggets defense hasn’t been all that impressive, but against a historically bad Lakers squad that can’t shoot to save their lives, I think the Nuggets should take care of business without many issues here. Back the home team to cover.
Denver Nuggets vs Los Angeles Lakers Predictions & Odds
It’ll be a battle of contrasting styles tonight as the Nuggets rank just 28th in defensive rating, while the Lakers are a surprising 2nd only behind the Milwaukee Bucks. The thing that is hurting the Lakers right now is efficiency, they are connecting on just 40.7% of field goal attempts and just 21.2% of three-point shots making them the worst shooting team through 3 games in the entire NBA. It’s no surprise that they also have the lowest offensive rating at 97.2 points per 100 possessions, so there’s quite a few things that they need to fix in order to get into the win column. The Nuggets could be an ideal team for them to try and do that against, as they rank dead last in points allowed per game this season at 124.5 a night.
The last time these two teams played in Denver the game went into overtime and the final score read 146-141 in favor of LA, so that’s another encouraging sign for the Lakers offense here. The Nuggets are averaging 134.3 points per game in the last 3 meetings, those numbers could go down a bit tonight, but they should still score in the high 110s or even break the 120 point mark as the Lakers are just that bad. I’m expecting a high tempo game, so our best bet here is to back the over.
